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Techmeme
January 15, 2026, 9:35 PM
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Top News

Maxwell Zeff / Wired:
A source close to Thinking Machines Lab alleges ex-CTO Barret Zoph, who is returning to OpenAI, had shared confidential company information with competitors  —  The departures are a blow for Thinking Machines Lab.  Two narratives are already emerging about why they happened.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral joined Wikimedia Enterprise to get “tuned” API access; Google is already a member  —  The companies have joined Google as the latest members of the Wikimedia Enterprise program.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Wikimedia celebrates Wikipedia's 25th anniversary, marking its growth from 100 pages to 65M+ articles with nearly 15B monthly views, and releases a docuseries  —  The online encyclopedia is releasing a mini docuseries that puts faces to the editors behind an array of Wikipedia articles.
Tim Culpan / Culpium:
Sources: Apple now needs to fight for TSMC production capacity amid the AI boom; Nvidia was likely TSMC's top customer in at least one or two quarters in 2025  —  [Exclusive] A 15-year relationship helped TSMC grow and Apple leap ahead of rivals.  But now the iPhone maker is struggling …
Reuters:
TSMC reports Q4 net profit up 35% YoY to a record ~$16B, above $15.17B est., as it benefited from surging demand for AI chips and hit $100B in 2025 revenue
Bloomberg:
TSMC projects $52B to $56B in 2026 capital spending, up 25%+ from 2025, and forecasts close to 30% YoY revenue growth in 2026, both above analyst estimates
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
The US says Taiwanese companies will invest $250B+ in chip production in the US as part of a trade deal, with Taiwanese government guaranteeing $250B in credit  —  The U.S. and Taiwan have reached a trade agreement to build chips and chip factories on American soil, the Department of Commerce announced on Thursday.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
X updates Grok to prevent the “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis” and geoblocks it for all users “where it's illegal”
André Beganski / Decrypt:
X revises its developer API policies to “no longer allow apps that reward users for posting on X (aka 'infofi')”, amid a backlash about increasing AI slop on X  —  X is making major changes to its API to prevent access by “InfoFi” crypto projects that seek to incentivize “reply spam,” an exec said.
Financial Times:
Source: Apple's Gemini deal is a cloud contract where it pays Google several billion dollars; a source says OpenAI declined to be Apple's custom model provider  —  Multibillion-dollar deal to secure Gemini models reflects cautious approach to infrastructure spending
CNBC:
Amazon files an objection to Saks Global's bankruptcy financing plan, and says its $475M investment in the department store is now effectively “worthless”  —  Amazon wants a federal judge to reject Saks Global's bankruptcy financing plan, writing in court papers the beleaguered department store …
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
OpenAI quietly rolls out ChatGPT Translate, a standalone website that supports plain text translations across 50+ languages and features prompt customization  —  OpenAI's new standalone translation tool supports over 50 languages and features AI-powered prompt customization.  —  •  —  TL;DR
The Keyword:
Google releases TranslateGemma, a suite of Gemma 3-based open translation models available in 4B-, 12B-, and 27B-parameter sizes, with support for 55 languages  —  Today, we're introducing TranslateGemma, a new collection of open translation models built on Gemma 3, helping people communicate …
Ike Swetlitz / Bloomberg:
Brain-computer interface startup Merge Labs, which Sam Altman co-founded, raised a $252M seed from OpenAI, Bain Capital, Gabe Newell, and others  —  Merge Labs, a company co-founded by AI billionaire Sam Altman that is building devices to connect human brains to computers, raised $252 million.
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Total global VC funding to fintech startups totaled $51.8B in 2025, up 27% YoY and above pre-pandemic totals, but much lower than 2021's peak of $141.6B  —  Global venture funding to fintech startups climbed in 2025 to its highest level in several quarters, boosted by later-stage deals, Crunchbase data shows.
Sam Gutelle / Tubefilter:
YouTube revises policy to allow full monetization of nongraphic videos on sensitive issues including abortion, self-harm, suicide, and domestic and sexual abuse  —  YouTube's guidelines for ad-friendly content are changing, and creators who cover controversial topics are in line for increased revenue.
See also Mediagazer
Financial Times:
Anthropic researchers say rich countries' higher AI adoption risks deepening economic disparities and widening living standard gaps, assuming productivity gains  —  Research by AI start-up suggests productivity gains from the technology unevenly spread around world
More: Anthropic, The Decoder, Anthropic, WebProNews, Axios, and Coverager
X: @azeem.  LinkedIn: Ako Sabir and Andrea Trocino.  Forums: Slashdot
Ciara O'Brien / The Irish Times:
Equal1, which was spun out from University College Dublin, raised $60M to deploy its new quantum server for data centers, bringing its total funding to $85M  —  UCD spinout has developed a quantum server for data centres  —  Equal1, the Irish quantum computing company that was spun …
Boone Ashworth / Wired:
As Meta shifts resources away from its Supernatural VR fitness service, users mourn the loss of a community built around the platform and its coaches  —  Users of the VR fitness service are distraught that Supernatural has had its staff cut and won't receive any more content updates.

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The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Paramount completes its $110B acquisition of WBD, creating Skydance and putting David Ellison in control of Hollywood studios, streamers, and cable networks

Michael Schneider / Variety:
Amazon's Prime Video acquires exclusive global rights to the Primetime Emmys under a six-year deal from 2027; sources say Prime Video will pay ~$15M per year

Megan Trotter / Greensburg Tribune-Review:
SCOTUS declines to hear a Block Communications appeal, ending a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette labor fight begun in 2022; a union lawyer says Block owes workers $5M+

More News

Krystal Hu / Reuters:
AI video startup Higgsfield raised an $80M Series A extension from Accel and others at a $1.3B+ valuation, and says it hit a $200M annualized revenue run rate
Gil Press / Forbes:
Boston-based Tulip, which offers an AI-powered frontline operations platform used by 60K workers, raised a $120M Series D led by Mitsubishi at a $1.3B valuation
Wired:
Researchers detail WhisperPair, vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google rolled out updates
Francisco Rodrigues / CoinDesk:
Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, invests $200M in MrBeast's Beast Industries, set to close on January 19; Bitmine holds 4M+ ETH valued at ~$13.6B

Earlier Picks

Molly Schuetz / Bloomberg:
Spotify plans to raise its Premium subscription by $1 to $12.99/month in the US, its first US price hike since July 2024, and increase it in Estonia and Latvia
Ionut Arghire / SecurityWeek:
WitnessAI, whose service helps organizations govern and protect their AI operations, raised $58M led by Sound Ventures, taking its total funding to $85M+
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
AWS launches European Sovereign Cloud, creating a new parent company for its sovereign cloud that will be locally controlled in the EU and run by EU citizens
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Scientists say that AI has become a powerful and rapidly improving research tool, and that whether it is generating ideas on its own is, for now, a moot point
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